South Shore shoppers swarm stores

Saturday

Nov 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 30, 2013 at 10:45 AM

On the South Shore and across the nation, parking lots and store aisles swelled with people on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Millions of Americans woke up before dawn – or didn’t sleep at all – to stake out sales.

Patrick Ronan

Marjorie McDonald of South Boston had a carriage full of merchandise and was ready to pay for it. Then she saw the line of more than 60 people at the cash register; the wait was at least a half-hour.

“I put everything back and I walked out,” McDonald said outside the Kohl’s store in Hingham’s Derby Street Shoppes. “It’s not worth it. No matter how many sales they have.”

On the South Shore and across the nation, parking lots and store aisles swelled with people on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Millions of Americans woke up before dawn – or didn’t sleep at all – to stake out sales.

Although McDonald opted out of the long line at Kohl’s, two of her family members decided the deals were worth the wait. McDonald, meanwhile, popped into a smaller apparel store that had an amenity she couldn’t pass up: “You can move around,” she said.

Lisa Messing of Quincy started shopping at 1 a.m. with Trisha Kelleher of Waltham and a cousin from Stoughton. Their annual Black Friday group outing is just as much about getting a break from their daily routines as it is about shopping.

“My husband had to take the day off (to watch the kids),” Messing said with a laugh.

At the Wal-Mart in Quincy, Messing’s carriage was filled with Christmas presents for her three kids, ages 10, 8 and 2. Messing and Kelleher had already stopped at five stores in Stoughton and Dedham before 10 a.m.

“We have way more to go,” Messing said.

“We’ll go until it’s dark again,” Kelleher said, adding that they shopped until 6 p.m. on Black Friday last year.

During a brief break, Kelleher searched her smartphone to try to find a video game for one of her kids. Asked why she didn’t do all of her shopping online, she said: “You really don’t get to browse online.”

“These are good prices,” he said. “The Barbies are usually $35, and I’m paying $5.”

Outside the Quincy Wal-Mart, a group of about 30 protesters lined the parking lot entrance and held signs condemning the retailer’s wages for employees. Groups staged protests at several Wal-Mart stores throughout the state Friday.

“We have to have a way to come out and show solidarity because it’s the right thing to do,” Melonie Griffiths, an organizer for Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, said into a megaphone. “We have to let Wal-Mart know that they have to change, or we’ll be back and we’ll come out 10 times more.”

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